ATHENS, Greece � Melvin Lister took a short hop, skip and a jump to
explain why he failed to qualify for Sunday's 2004 Olympics triple jump
final.
To fellow U.S. competitor Walter Davis,
Lister was making an excuse rather than blaming himself. But we'll let
Lister, a former Leavenworth High athlete who made it to Athens by leaping
58 feet, 4 inches on his final attempt at the U.S. Olympic trials, tell
his side of the story.
First the hop.
�They took my measuring tape,� Lister said
of Greek track and field officials. �It's in feet and inches. Nobody told
me they were only going to have metric out there. I couldn't figure out
what my mark was.�
Next the skip.
On Lister's second attempt, he pulled off a
big one. He was right at the 17-meter mark, which would have automatically
qualified him for Sunday's 12-man medal final. But his foot was just
inches � or centimeters, if you prefer � over the launch board. Lister's
best mark was his third and last, 16.64 meters, which converted to 54 feet
7 1/4 inches.
�I should have represented my country better,� Lister said. �But under
the circumstances, it was hard to do it.�
Finally, there was the jump � all over everyone else.
�My coaches never got up to help me, never got up to fight for me,�
Lister said. �The Greek officials never tried to help me get a measuring
tape with feet or inches. Somebody should have helped me.�
Lister later said that should have been U.S. men's track and field
coach George Williams.
�I went over and said, �Coach, man! I need to get a (feet and inches)
measuring tape out here,' � Lister said. �They don't have one, and nobody
is trying to help me. And all of a sudden, all the Greek officials try to
pretend like they can't understand any English.�
Williams responded, �We talked to the people. They wouldn't let anyone
bring a tape in. But we got his mark. He was hitting the board perfectly.
It was a breakdown in his form. He just over-rotated.�
Lister said he has to start his triple-jump approach from precisely the
same distance every time. He has calculated it down to 95 feet 6 inches.
He doesn't know what that is in meters, which is the standard by which
track and field measures everything. Friday, he had to guess. And he said
getting it �about right� never works.
�If I don't trust my approach, I'm not going to jump well,� Lister
said. �If I'm saying this is about right, then it's not perfect. Then I
still don't have the trust that I need.�
Davis, who along with the third American, Kenta Bell, did qualify for
the final, was having none of Lister's explanation.
�You've got to come prepared,� said Davis, who also has Kansas roots;
he attended Barton County Community College. �If you don't come prepared,
you're going to find all kinds of excuses. If he didn't jump well, he
should just say he had a rough day. I didn't jump well. It was just rough.
But I didn't have excuses. It was me.�
Davis told how he had handled the measuring of his own run-up mark: by
making the conversion to metric ahead of time.
�Before you leave home, you should remember, write it down, what your
mark is,� Davis said after his qualifying jump of 16.94 meters, or 55 feet
7 inches. �So when you get to this meet, you'll already know.�
Bell's final jump was 16.98 meters, or 55 feet 8 1/2 inches. Sweden's
Christian Olsson, the reigning world champion, was the top qualifier at
17.68 meters. That was 58 feet 1/4 inch.
At the 2000 Sydney Games, Lister competed in the long jump but didn't
advance to the medal round there, either, after injuring himself on his
first jump.
� WEBB OUT: Olympic trials
champion Alan Webb, trying to become the first American man since Jim Ryun
to medal in the Olympic 1,500, failed to qualify out of the first round.
Twenty-four runners advanced; Webb had the 25th-fastest time: 3 minutes,
41.25 seconds. Webb was stuck in the middle of the pack for most of the
race and got spiked about 200 meters in.
Former Kansas standout Charlie Gruber ran 3:41.73 and also failed to
qualify to the semifinals.
� DEVERS IN: Two-time Olympic
100 champion Gail Devers got the 16th and final spot in today's 100
semifinals, running 11.31. Devers was fourth in the open 100 at the
Olympic trials but made the team because Torri Edwards received a ban
after testing positive for a stimulant. Devers won the 100 hurdles at the
trials and is aiming for her first Olympic medal in that event.
Americans Lauryn Williams and LaTasha Colander also advanced in the
100. So did Merlene Ottey, who a 44 is seeking her ninth Olympic medal. A
native of Jamaica, she is now running for Slovenia.
� ISLAM WOMEN RUN: Women from
Afghanistan and other Islamic countries competed in the 100. It was a
major step forward from the last Olympics when Afghanistan was banned from
participation because of the Taliban's repression of women. Among them was
Robina Muqimyar , 18, of Afghanistan. She was dressed in long running
pants but wore no head scarf and was seventh in her heat at 14.14 seconds,
beating another 18-year-old, Fartun Omar Abukar of Somalia.
Danah Al Nasrallah, 16, became the first woman to compete for Kuwait in
the Olympics. Her family does not wear religious dress, so she competed in
a T-shirt and shorts. She had the third-slowest time in the field, 13.92,
but said, �It will open doors for my country.�
The Associated Press contributed to this
report.
